Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

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(Adds Carrefour Brasil SA, Thales, OMV, Takeda Pharmaceutical)

Nov 9 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2130 GMT on Friday:

** French aerospace and defence company Thales is on track to secure conditional EU antitrust approval for its 4.8-billion-euro ($5.4 billion) bid for chipmaker Gemalto , a person familiar with the matter said, a move set to make it a leading player in digital security services.

** Austrian oil and gas group OMV has agreed on a joint venture with Malaysia’s Sapura Energy, paying $540 million for a 50 percent stake in its exploration assets, aiming to use it as a springboard for further expansion in Asia.

** Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical is set to win conditional EU antitrust approval for its $62-billion bid for London’s Shire, the biggest ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese company, two people familiar with the matter said.

** Brazilian retail tycoon Abilio Diniz’s holding company sold a 2.55 pct stake in Carrefour Brasil SA for 805 million reais ($214.63 million), a person with knowledge of the matter said.

** Industralist Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty steel company has secured the financing for its acquisition of a Dunkirk aluminum smelter from Rio Tinto.

** A deal to create the UK’s second-biggest retail power provider has been delayed to beyond the first quarter of next year, with SSE and Innogy renegotiating merger terms after Britain’s regulator proposed a cap on energy bills.

** Laser and optical parts maker II-VI Inc said it would buy Apple Inc supplier Finisar Corp for about $3.2 billion, to grab a bigger slice of 5G investments and sell more sensors for iPhones and driverless cars.

** South Africa’s Discovery Ltd said it will issue 11.4 million shares to fund the acquisition of FirstRand’s stake in their credit card joint venture, a condition for the launch of its planned Discovery Bank.

** The chief executive of state-owned oil producer Saudi Aramco said he planned to discuss the purchase of a stake in Novatek’s Arctic LNG-2 project with Novatek’s boss in Moscow, the RIA news agency reported.

** Steelmaker SSAB’s subsidiary Tibnor has agreed to buy the steel distribution business of Denmark’s Sanistal in a 630 million Swedish crown ($69.65 million) deal, SSAB said in a statement.

** French bank Societe Generale has sold a 2.05 percent stake in clearing house Euroclear to Belgian state-owned financial firm SFPI, SocGen said.